The results of these studies need to taken with a grain of salt. Depending on the specific metrics used, the results can vary widely.

For instance, I once saw a study that was largely based on the average number of AP tests taken by students. In school districts that subsidized the fees for these tests, virtually everybody signed up for multiple AP tests, regardless of whether a student was likely to score 5’s or 1’s on them. In other schools, only those students likely to perform well actually sign up for the tests because it costs money.

The methodology says that they counted the number of AP tests give (regardless of outcome) and divided by the number of students. How is this garbage even published? The only high school I’m personally familiar with doesn’t even offer AP courses because they won’t build their courses around just learning the facts of the test. They think it’s more important to teach their students how to think critically, write clearly, explore subjects deeply and instill a lifelong love of learning. It’s a nationally known school that wouldn’t have even made the list. All of their students go on to college and usually about half go to Ivies. When the kids get to college they jump right into junior level classes. Emphasizing AP for the sake of AP strikes me as being deeply ignorant about how to teach our children.

maryjane: We do not include any magnet or charter high school that draws such a high concentration of top students that its average SAT or ACT score significantly exceeds the highest average for any normal-enrollment school in the country. This year that meant such schools had to have an average SAT score below 1,975 or an average ACT score below 29 to be included on the list.

I was, uhh, “asked to leave” Lynbrook high after my sophomore year in 94. I have no high school equivalency. I never took the GED, never completed elsewhere. I just went straight to De Anza, and have since gotten an BSEE, and MSEE, and a JD.

The worship of AP classes is one of the biggest problems in education today. If your school offers them you have to take them if you’re planning to go to a decent college. The high school will value a B in an AP course as a 4.0, so if you get an A you get a 5.0. You then have B students who think they’re really 4.0 students and a whole bunch of kids with GPA’s around 4.5.

I know of one child who went to a school that didn’t offer AP courses but got all A’s. When she applied to the UC’s she got back letters telling her to go to a community college for two years and try to reapply. Instead she went to school near Boston. (Ahem) They were familiar with the high school and it’s reputation. Apparently the UC’s either didn’t know or didn’t care. They were so number driven that a 4.0 from one of the most prestigious high schools in the country wasn’t enough to get their attention.

#11: Too many applicants to UC so they probably use spreadsheets to decide who gets to go. If this school across the river from Boston was established in 1636, then they still have a real human being read every application folder.

The same problem exists with parents who go by state tests and nothing else, leading to drill-and-kill schools like Faria with their occasional 1000 API scores. Or as my eldest puts it, “Monta Vista isn’t ‘the best,’ they just have the best scores. We beat them in just about every sport. And same for Kennedy, their teams suck.”

#9, did you go straight to de Anza after being encouraged to seek other educational opportunities? My brother asked to do an accelerated program to graduate a year early, something they had let another kid do, and they told him no, you’re doing your senior year and you can graduate then. he said, I’ve already been admitted to Rutgers, bye-bye. They just asked him to take HS English over the summer. Like you, no HS degree, just BSME and MBA.

#17 – .. I wouldn’t leave it up to a college either. The qualities required to enjoy running a company are not acquired at school, but at home. The school will merely help the kid run the company successfully.

Newsweek doesn’t list my high school in the rankings because there is an entrance exam, I’m guessing it is the same deal for Lowell.

I’m kind of critical of both particularly Newsweek since all they do is take the number of AP exams taken and divide it by the number of graduating seniors. It doesn’t matter how well students do on the AP exam, this in part has lead to some school districts to jam AP courses regardless of how appropriate it is.

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